I remember Royce Young getting all excited and pulling out his "8 game sample size" about turning the corner. It is amazing that ESPN employs a "single team" writer to pump that team and get it press. GSW/Cavs get their own guys too. Rockets don't have Calvin Watkins anymore and have to "time share" with Tim MacMahon. He is ok, but not a consistent voice. OKC is a narrative darling. The "media" desperately WANTS them to do well. Amick, Broussard, etc. They want to GSW vs OKC matchup. And they do whatever they can to push that.
Agreed This team is on pace to win like 43 games. They suck. They show flashes but none of the guys they have in there big three has ever been particularly efficient. Atleast one of your guys has to be efficient. What the rockets and warriors have done is the right way to build your roster. Harden cp3 KD and curry are head and shoulder abover russ in terms of impact and efficient play. Paul George is on the klay Thompson level Draymond green is the x-factor. Gordon is way better than Carmelo just had a much bigger impact. Clearly the warriors are just straight stacked but if the rockets can swing for the fence and get Lebron this summer we’re on that level talent for talent. Ok3 is booboo. Paul George is the only guy besides Adams who the rockets and warriors would even want and that’s saying something. Yes I kno we would take melo for Ryno but there is more to that then just the player for player aspect.
They definitely miss Andre Roberson, though he's not the fix for their recent offensive woes. I don't envy the situation that OKC is in. Unless they go ridiculously far in the playoffs, George is almost assuredly gone. I don't know if Carmelo opts out of that fat deal right now, but seems likely George leaves. Trade deadline is just over three weeks away. Tick tock...
Carmelo would be INSANE to opt out He will *not* get that contract again . . . . . .. Then again . . . Charlotte and others are out there Rocket River
Yeah, you never know. There may always be some desperate GMs out there that would give him a max contract. Even Morey once would do that when we were star hungry.
Yeah, but the offseason moves got Russ to sign the extension. Now personally, I'm not a huge fan of the extension the Rockets gave Harden, because of WHEN they gave it to him. But with Russ, it was either get him to sign an extension right then or the very real risk of losing him this next offseason, while also losing PG. With the extension signed, they can at least move Russ for assets. Which is exactly what I'd do if I was OKC this offseason, when the draft order is set.
They'd have been better off trading Westbrick to a sucker team for whatever they could get for him. Being stuck with a guy like that long term is a franchise killer.
They can still trade him, and potentially for more value in return. He's now signed for 4 more years and I don't believe there is a no-trade clause. Does that mean he'll be jazzed about going to a cellar dweller and it'll be a good fit? Of course not. But in the offseason, maybe a Chicago jumps into the top 3 of the draft, and then they'd trade that pick and Dunn and someone else and salary filler for Russ... something like that...
Trade Russ? From a pure business perspective you keep him until his knees stop working. Any team Russ is traded to would win up to 10 more games depending on the player Russ replaces. He puts asses in seats and sells OKC labeled merchandise. You would never get full value back, especially not in draft picks.
Westbrook is fully entrenched in OKC. No way he can be moved because he is firmly established as the face of the Thunder. He is the Thunder. It would be like trading Bird or Magic back in the day.
That's crazy. It absolutely wouldn't be like that. For one, obviously Westbrook hasn't won anything in OKC, ESPECIALLY as "the face". For two, until 2 months ago, it was 50/50 whether Russ himself was willing to sign the extension to stay. For three, considering the reasons he signed the extension are probably (1) boatload of cash, and (2) organization striving to get him the help needed to be a real contender, when you factor in the help hasn't exactly helped, the better part of the help is a free agent likely to leave, AND he now has the boatload of cash regardless, Russ' own motivation might be to leave anyway... even if "secretly". But in any case, OKC making those summer moves made it possible for them to either keep or trade Russ for meaningful return. So even though it isn't panning out quite as OKC has hoped, they were still bar none the right moves to make.
